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Dinky and the new dog

As those that read this blog regularly, or follow the Facebook page may already know Dinky has a new 6month old puppy.
We picked her up from a house on last week, the poor thing was trampled on and was constantly in scraps with her siblings just to get a meal. She had never even been outside.
So it has all been a new experience for the pup. The other thing was the puppy didn’t have a name, so dinky called her Sky.

It has been interesting.

Dinky already loves Sky, and wants nothing more than to play with her (even when the poor puppy is sleeping).

It hasn’t been all plain sailing, however I never expected it to be, although I must admit I was not expecting the first problem we encountered.

Dinky like many children with PDA is uncomfortable with constant or over praising, to the point where she wouldn’t accept a certificate for going on a tree top adventure because all the way round the staff were praising her (as is their job), and she didn’t like it.
So when I was over praising sky for little things like peeing on the puppy training pads, or for leaving the guinea pigs alone (she is scared of them and growled for the first day), and had to tell dinky off for one or two things within a short period dinky said “So sky is good, I am not! I should just go!”. Dinky was really upset, so I had to calm her down and let her know how much I love her and that it just happened to be that I said sky had done a good job at the same time as I had to remind her not to do something. So for a few days I had to equal out the praise.

Then came the integrated services visit and the refusal to walk Sky because of the demand of taking her for a walk, which I knew may be a bit of an issue, especially until she goes to a new school. She managed it in the end, and now I give her control of where we walk her, what we take and she gets to choose the treats if Sky behaves well (plus her own treat for being such a good dog owner).
We have had one more refusal to walk as my dad had been ramping up Dinky’s anxiety levels all day, so I left her with my dad and took sky out by myself.

Dinky has been a lot more anxious since sky’s arrival, which I kind of expected but not to this level. She has been a lot more avoidant with home stuff, and we have had flash meltdowns and hyperness to the next level.

Another issue is Sky’s distrust of other dogs. She barks at any dog she sees whether they are massive or tiny. I tried to socialise her with other dogs but she spent the whole time barking at them and trying to fight them. Poor dinky kept running off with her hands over her ears screaming, which doesnt help the situation as she is tugging on the wrist reins and sky is tugging on the lead and I’m trying to calm them both down, but both are making each other worse. Nightmare! So I have a dog trainer coming over tomorrow to give me some pointers on how to gently socialise Sky, I hope that by having the lady explain it to us that I can ask dinky to help me remember so that she knows what I am trying to do.
Walking with the pair of them is generally tricky, as Dinky on the reins and Sky on her lead can get tangled or pull in different directions, fall over each other or I trip on them! I have a system now though, and it seems to be working.

Dinky is nice and calm when sky is next to her or on her lap. The two of them together on the field is lovely. Dinky runs and sky chases after her, dinky giggles like mad, which always makes me smile, it is the same when we finally got sky to fetch, dinky was giggling like crazy. Not much gets her quite that excited,

Overall, I think that Sky will be good for Dinky.

A few people have asked if I can handle a puppy as they are a lot of work. To be honest, this week we have had her, she has been easy, she is not a patch on Dinky.
I don’t know whether I just got an easy pup, or just used to the constant that is PDA.

Either way, it’s nice to have Sky around, and I hope Dinky will calm down once the novelty of having a new puppy wears off.

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Thoughts on the crossroads of law, politics and society - for when 140 characters just won't do. This blog contains general information and commentary on legal matters. It is not intended to provide legal advice. This blog discusses the law in England, unless otherwise stated.

Hello, my name is Julia and I’m an adult living with a diagnosis of Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA). I also have a diagnosis of ADHD and Psychotic Episodes. PDA is a lifelong Pervasive Developmental Disorder and was first described by the late Prof. Elizabeth Newson in 1980. PDA is an Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Despite PDA being older than me (just) there are still massive gaps in its recognition, peoples’ understanding and its diagnosis by professionals. I’m one of the lucky ones and this is my story…….